Must Reads

Check out these smart posts about the politics of torture:

The Case for More Waterboarding by Matthew Yglesias
and
Some Behavior Is Beyond The Legal System by Digby

But this story is amazing, and I hope we hear more from FBI Agent Ali Soufan.
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Cat Fun

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Be afraid! And buy an umbrella.

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A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

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And don't get me started on hemp farming ...

I beleive it is long past time for our nation to take a realistic and thoughtful look at our drug laws. Here is an interesting article from a former Seattel Police Chief Norm Stamper,

"...with April 20 approaching and Waldos of the world gearing up to celebrate their favorite day of the year, it's not a bad time to consider, yet again, the pluses and minuses of alcohol vs. cannabis.

First, a disclaimer: I am a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, but I don't officially represent the organization in this forum. ... We at LEAP are current and former cops and other criminal justice practitioners who have witnessed firsthand the futility and manifold injustices of the drug war. Our professional experiences have led us to conclude that the more dangerous an illicit substance--from crack to krank--the greater the justification for its legalization, regulation, and control. It is the prohibition of drugs that leads inexorably to high rates of death, disease, crime, and addiction.

Back to booze vs. pot. How do the effects of these two drugs stack up against specific health and public safety factors?

Alcohol-related traffic accidents claim approximately 14,000 lives each year, down significantly from 20 or 30 years ago (attributed to improved education and enforcement). ... evidence from studies, including laboratory simulations, feeds the stereotype that those under the influence of canniboids tend to (1) be more aware of their impaired psychomotor skills, and (2) drive well below the speed limit. Those under the influence of alcohol are much more likely to be clueless or defiant about their condition, and to speed up and drive recklessly.

Hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths occur annually. There has never been a single recorded marijuana OD fatality.

According to the American Public Health Association, excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of death in this country. APHA pegs the negative economic impact of extreme drinking at $150 billion a year.

There have been no documented cases of lung cancer in a marijuana-only smoker, nor has pot been scientifically linked to any type of cancer. ... Alcohol abuse contributes to a multitude of long-term negative health consequences, notably cirrhosis of the liver and a variety of cancers.

... alcohol is one of the worst drugs one can take for pain management, marijuana one of the best.

Alcohol contributes to acts of violence; marijuana reduces aggression. In approximately three million cases of reported violent crimes last year, the offender had been drinking. This is particularly true in cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, and date rape. Marijuana use, in and of itself, is absent from both crime reports and the scientific literature. There is simply no link to be made.

Over the past four years I've asked police officers throughout the U.S. (and in Canada) two questions. When's the last time you had to fight someone under the influence of marijuana? (I'm talking marijuana only, not pot plus a six-pack or a fifth of tequila.) My colleagues pause, they reflect. Their eyes widen as they realize that in their five or fifteen or thirty years on the job they have never had to fight a marijuana user. I then ask: When's the last time you had to fight a drunk? They look at their watches.

All of which begs the question. If one of these two drugs is implicated in dire health effects, high mortality rates, and physical violence--and the other is not--what are we to make of our nation's marijuana laws? Or alcohol laws, for that matter.

Anybody out there want to launch a campaign for the re-prohibition of alcohol? Didn't think so. The answer, of course, is responsible drinking. Marijuana smokers, for their part, have already shown (apart from that little matter known as the law) greater responsibility in their choice of drugs than those of us who choose alcohol."

Perhaps widespread legalization isn't the answer, but decriminalization of the personal use of marijuana is feasible. The public opinion is slowly shifting that way, too.
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Joe Klein has a great piece at Swampland:

"I've gotten the clear sense that the bankers still haven't quite realized (a) how much and why the country is so infuriated with them and (b) how much of a haircut they're going to have take on their toxic assets. ...

On late Friday afternoon, a senior Obama Administration official met with a group of Time-Warner journalists in New York and shocked the group of us by saying, "I don't understand bankers," even though he'd spent his adult life working with them. And then added that "they don't understand the scale of damage that they've done."

I suspect the next stage of this is going to be either a tug-of-war, or a flame war, between the Administration and the bankers, who don't seem to realize yet that the
economy they thrived and robbed in--the economy built on making paper profits at the rest of the country's expense--is over. That was the house built on sand Obama was speaking about in his excellent Georgetown University speech last week.

A new economy, built on rock--that is, real products not paper profits--is where the Administration is trying to point us. This will be the historic work of the Obama Administration. The bankers, and their snake-oil selling allies at CNBC and elsewhere, will claim unwarranted government intrusion, the onset of socialiam, the end of the world and prosperity and private jets."

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Via Kos:

Chris Hayes tweets:
"If a US soldier was captured and water boarded 183 times in one month, something tells me Fox News would say he was tortured."

Ya think?
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Welcome to Texas I, Texas II, Texas III, Texas Iv and Texas V

With all the secession crazytalk coming out of Texas, it has come to light that Texas can actually split itself into five different states if it wants to. Hmmm.

The great guys over at AmericaBlog decided to ask for suggestions on what these new states should be named. Funny stuff!

My favorites?

• Jesusistan
• Cleetus
• Alabubba
• Soreloserville
• and Dumbfuckistan!

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Tax Whacks

Here is another good article, this time by Robert Reich, on paying taxes and the myths perpetuated by the Rightwing demagogues:

A Short Citizen's Guide to Kooks, Demagogues, and Right-Wingers On Tax Day

No one likes to pay taxes, so tax day typically attracts a range of right-wing Republicans, kooks, and demagogues, all of whom tell us how awful we have it. Herewith a short citizen's guide (that is, a citizen's guide that's short rather than a guide for short citizens) responding to the predictable charges:

Read it!

Texas Insanity

We already fought the battle of the States ...


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Keeping up with the Googles ...

Went to a lecture on Social Media today and saw this video which has been around for awhile ... fascinating:



Cool music, too!
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Lying for laughs

You can't believe everything you read. But you can have fun at the expense of those gullible idiots who do:

I was amazed at how easily conservatives were willing to accept and repeat lies about spending in the stimulus package, even after those provisions had been debunked as fabrications. The $30 million for the salt marsh mouse is a perfect example ...

To test the limits of this phenomenon, I started a parody Twitter account last Thursday, which I called "InTheStimulus", where all the tweets took the format "InTheStimulus is $x million for ______"... I was able to get 500 followers in less than a day, and 1000 by Sunday morning.

You can read through all the retweets and responses by looking at the Twitter search for "InTheStimulus".

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April 15th ... Happy Patriots' Day!

Paul Begala states the bitter truth about our taxes ... they actually do things for us!

Happy Patriots' Day. April 15 is the one day a year when our country asks something of us -- or at least the vast majority of us. For those who wear a military uniform, those who serve the rest of us as policemen and firefighters and teachers and other public servants, every day is patriots' day. They work hard for our country; many risk their lives -- and some lose their lives. But for the rest of us, the civilian majority, our government asks very little. Except for April 15. On this day, our government asks that we pay our fair share of taxes to keep our beloved country strong and safe.

This country has showered me with the blessings of liberty. So what do I owe my country in return? Paying my fair share of taxes, it seems, is the least I can do. Thanks to President Obama and the Democratic Congress, 95 percent of Americans will get a tax cut this year. No one -- not even the wealthiest 1 percent -- will have to pay higher income taxes until 2011.

If the whiners at Fox News want to advertise their selfishness, they are free to do so. But please don't dress it up as patriotism. Patriotism is putting your country ahead of yourself -- which is the precise opposite of what the tea party plutocrats are doing.

Damn straight!
I like my nice roads, trash service, public transportation, clean and safe water, electricity and so much more that my taxes pay for. I like my fire and police protection, I like my military, I like the FAA keeping the sky traffic flowing smoothly.
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Wow. Just wow!

Watch this vid from Britains Got Talent, which I like so much better than American Idol because of the constant surprises. Here is some background:

Across the pond, "Britain's Got Talent" scored a huge boost in the Buzz after an unassuming contestant gave an amazing performance.Susan Boyle (remember that name) became a Web phenomenon after singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. The performance brought the audience to its feet and left the judges (including Simon Cowell) either speechless or in tears.Before going on stage, Ms. Boyle admitted some self-deprecating facts about herself (she's never been kissed and lives alone with her cat, Pebbles). For those reasons and more, audiences were expecting the female William Hung. They were wrong. ... while Ms. Boyle thought she "looked like a garage" on TV, she received a standing ovation when she showed up at her local church. Other sources write that as a child, Ms. Boyle was the target of bullies because of a disability. But, with her newfound fame, she is getting the last laugh.

Stick with this long video, you will be glad you did.
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The sound on this embed isn't too great, so go here for better versions.

Glenn Beck is batshit crazy!

OK, the derangement at Fox News continues.

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Mob Rule

More fun!

A video of almost 200 people taking over Antwerpen's Centraal Station in Belgium and doing a carefully choreographed dance to the Do Re Mi song (aka Maria's Dance aka Maria's Song) from "Sound of Music" has garnered almost a million views on YouTube, and continues to grow, sprouting a new round of google trends today.
It's a publicity stunt for a reality show, but that doesn't seem to bother anyone, they just like it for what it is: a really cool, well shot video, that lets average people express their joy and talent and make those around them happy for a brief period. The producers chose the exact right song: one that harkens back to our childhoods, but also recalls Maria's unabashed upbeatness in the face of evil.

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A slap in the face ...

Comments below from a reader at Americablog whose mother watched this:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Oh, GREAT. Thanks, Rachel.

Actual conversation with my 74 year old mother, a fightin' liberal from way back, and HUGE fan of KO, Rachel, Jon Stewart and Colbert:

Mom: "Honey, what does 'teabagging' mean?"

Me: Spews last sip of cocktail all over room.

Mom: "I was watching Rachel last night and they were talking about these asshole teabag parties and it was clear that it is a double entendre for something else."

Me: "Jesus Christ, you're 74; aren't you supposed to be getting a little fuzzy?"

So I explained teabagging and the resulting howls of laughter sent her into an asthmatic coughing binge. Now this (the post about 2M4M). I'm hoping she can figure it out on her own.

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Big Babies Throwing Tantrums

Fantastic insight by Andrew Sullivan into the TeaParty "movement" that is being orchestrated by Fox News and other conservative groups.

These are not tea-parties. They are tea-tantrums. And the adolescent, unserious hysteria is a function not of a movement regrouping and refinding itself. It's a function of a movement's intellectual collapse and a party's fast-accelerating nervous breakdown.

Here are the questions Sullivan asks:

I spent the better part of an hour earlier today scanning the various sites and blogs to try and understand what specifically the Fox-Pajamas tea parties are about. Having absorbed about as much of the literature as I can, I have to say I'm still befuddled.

Option 1: It's a protest of the bank bailouts orchestrated by Bush and now Obama. But surely these tea-partiers understand what would happen if we didn't bail the banks out. Are they advocating letting major banks fail? Or are they advocating a Krugman-style government take-over? No idea.

Option 2: It's a protest against tax hikes. But there have barely been any! Are they arguing that the planned return to Clinton era marginal rates is an outrage worthy of the colonists ... only months after an election in which the winning candidate ran on exactly that platform? Is that postponed future increase so radical that it demands a protest modeled on one in which people were taxed with no representation at all? Truly bizarre. And when you consider that we have gone through a very long period of relatively low taxation for the very successful, and a very long period in which their wealth has soared, and after an election where a majority of such people voted for Obama, the extremism seems unrelated to anything substantive underneath it.

Option 3: It's a protest against illegal immigration. Ok, so why the tea? Weren't all the original tea-partiers illegal immigrants?

Option 4: It's a protest against government debt. Yay! I will leave aside the somewhat awkward fact that Fox News and Pajamas Media barely covered the massive debt racked up by the Republicans during a period of economic growth. Instead, I'll proffer a simple point: If the tea-partiers are concerned about debt and concerned about taxes, one presumes they favor drastic spending cuts. But what are the tea-partiers proposing to do to Medicare, Medicaid, and social security?

UPDATE:
Well, well, well. As we dig a bit deeper we find our more about who is promoting and organizing these "spontaneous" protests of "average Americans." Are you familiar with the term "astroturfing"?
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A round of teabags for everyone!

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If by "polarizing" you mean "popular" ...

There is a meme being pushed by the GOP and the Right that President Barack Obama is "the most polarizing president" we've had in a long time.

Really?

To the polls we go ...

So, let’s add it all up.

• Over 60% of the American people currently approve of Obama – 10% more than approved of either Bush I or Bush II at this point.

• Republican Party identification has shrunk substantially and the Party’s remaining supporters have become more intensely partisan. Nonetheless, even so, over one-quarter – 27% of these hard-core Republicans still approve of Obama.

• And 57-60% - a solid, commanding majority -- of independents approve of him.

So, Let’s all send Gerson a message: “Hey, Mike, cut out the histrionics. Blow your nose, put away the silly polka-dot hanky and stop the sanctimonious blubbering about Obama causing partisan division. The Oscars are over.

America isn’t divided – it’s solidly behind Obama.

And Chuck Todd and the others over at FirstRead chime in:

Polar opposites:

A lot has been made recently about that new Pew poll showing Obama to have the largest gap in partisan approval among recent presidents in their first year in office: 88% of Democrats approve of Obama's job, while just 27% of Republicans say the same thing. But here are a couple of things to consider:

One, the Republican Party is more conservative now, and its moderates are now sitting in the independent category now (the Pew poll has Obama’s approval among independents at 57%).

Two, Obama is still approved by one in four Republicans.

When that number gets into the teens or single digits, then the "P" word -- polarization -- can fairly be used.

For example, in our January 2009 NBC/WSJ poll, right before he left office, just 6%
of Democrats approved of George W. Bush’s job.

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Sick & Twisted

Marcos gets e-mail:

It's been a while since I've posted hate mail. Here's a particularly illustrative one that came in this morning:

I read your pathetic Oboma ass kissing site and you people are fucking morons. I saw you on TV and you look like a little smug faggot. I think all liberals should paint themselves black and find some black ass to have gay sex with. You people are a disgrace to the white race and to America. Your bastard president and he is a bastard cuz his white mom was a single whore when she got knocked up with him. He is a one termer, he lied, he duped, he brainwashed Americans and now they are GETTING it.

You live by your whacked out biased polls, I dont need fucking numbers to see what Americans minus the liberals think of this disgusting person and his dog face bucked teeth wife.

THEY ARE HATED. I CAN ONLY HOPE HE DROPS FUCKING DEAD."

The only question is which of the right's blowhards is his favorite? Is it Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, or Beck. This guy is their audience.

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Fearmongers Among Us

Haven't you heard?
Obama is going to take away your guns!
Apparently, that's the big fear for a lot of people in this country who have limited cognitive abilities. And the fear is being exploited by people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
DevilsTower at DailyKos has a great post that notes "to be a successful fearmonger ... you need people who are easily scared" and there are a lot of them buying guns and ammo right now:

"People are buying guns to protect themselves. Because the government is bailing out banks? Wait, that doesn't make sense. People are buying guns because someone
-- certainly not the president -- is talking about taking over oil companies.

And having a gun at your house helps with that... how? Hmm. Let's go on. People are buying guns because the government is going socialist and giving things to people without jobs who aren't working hard enough and if criminals know you're unarmed, they'll get you.

Oh! You're buying guns because you believe that President Obama is going to take away your stuff and give it to shiftless Negroes. Well hells bells, Billy Bob, why didn't you just say so?

You know, the NRA, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and all their kind can spread fear, but only if they have a ready supply of the kind of ammo they all fire: people stupid enough to believe them and cowardly enough to jump when they shout 'boo.'

Hoarding weapons because the outcome of an election didn't go your way doesn't make you tough. It only proves that your belief in America is no bigger than a gnat's ass. That your faith in democracy is as transient as a mud puddle on a hot day. That your love for country goes about as far as you could throw your lifetime supply of AK-47 ammo.

NPR: How's business today?
DURY (gun dealer): Today's an average post-Obama day.

You know, it's just another post-Obama day for me, too. Another day when the will of the American people gets done by duly elected representatives. A day when we try to clean up the mess created during the eight years while the wingnuts took off their camo and picked up pom-poms.

You guys with the cleaning out the shelves of ammo? Better stay home and guard that collection of Father Coughlin commemorative plates. Mean old Obama will be sending in the urban hordes any day now. Any day. Any... hey, what's that over there?

Boo!

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100 percent moral, legal and actual certainty ...

Another reason to abolish or severely restrict the death penalty:

"AUSTIN — Twenty-two years ago, Ruby Session listened in disbelief as a Lubbock jury convicted her son, Timothy Cole, of rape. She promised herself that one day she would make sure this injustice was corrected.
"I always had faith and I just believed that it would one day happen," Session said.
That day finally came Tuesday when, after years of efforts by Cole’s family and a relentless group of supporters, state District Judge Charles Baird issued the first posthumous DNA exoneration in Texas history.
"The evidence is crystal clear that Timothy Cole died in prison an innocent man and I find to 100 percent moral, legal and actual certainty that he did not commit the crime that he was convicted of," Baird said.
Cole was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 1986, after Michele Mallin identified him as the man who attacked her near Texas Tech University. Cole had always maintained his innocence.
In 1995, Jerry Wayne Johnson, who was serving two consecutive life sentences in prison for sexual assaults in Lubbock, admitted raping Mallin. Authorities ignored his confession until the Innocence Project of Texas took up the case in 2007. DNA tests in 2008 confirmed that Johnson was Mallin’s attacker.
Cole died in prison in 1999 at age 38 from complications of asthma."

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You've already lost ...

From Jed Lewison at DailyKos:
The Majority Leader of the Iowa State Senate, Mike Gronstal, explains why he will not co-sponsor a bill to amend Iowa’s constitution to ban gay marriage.


"You guys don't understand. You've already lost. My generation doesn't care."
Hallelujah!
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Hiking in Torrey Pines State Park at sunset.

The Midway carrier deck ..on a chilly cloudy day.

On the flight deck of the USS Midway museum in San Diego